


Teenage Dream

by dizzy



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-27
Updated: 2011-11-27
Packaged: 2017-10-26 15:08:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/284700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy





	1. Chapter 1

It's a Thursday when Cam works up the nerve to talk to Vala for the first time.

Years later, he'll admit that he spent two weeks beforehand doing all but stalking her. Years later, he'll say that the minute she walked into his classroom on the first day of school that year he'd looked at her and hasn't been able to look away since.

Years later, she'll roll her eyes and look pleased with herself and he'll have to stop and give her a kiss.

But right now, a kiss seems like a distant treasure, something he has to earn and he's not even sure what game they're playing. So he takes it one step at a time, the only way he knows how, and starts at the beginning: by saying hello.

*

"You're Vala, right?"

She turns and smiles at him, and his stomach flips. "So I've been told."

He jams a hand into his pocket. "You're new here?"

She closes her locker door and leans back against it. Her shirt is low cut, tight, and his eyes wander. "What gave it away?"

She hasn't walked away yet. That has to be a good sign, right? He decides to take it as one. "Your, uh... your accent. Where are you from, anyway?"

"Oh, a little bit of everywhere." She stands up like she's going to walk away and maybe he grasped to hope a little too soon. "I have to get to history."

"Okay," Cam says. She lingers, and because she hasn't left yet, so does he, but he doesn't know what to say. Dread settles in the pit of his stomach. "I guess I"ll see you around?"

She gives him a strange look, not quite a smile. "I guess you will."

*

He lays at home on his perfectly made bed that night, staring up at the ceiling. A poster of a fighter jet stares back down at him. He's replaying the scene from earlier in his head over and over, trying to make it make sense, to figure out where he went wrong.

There's a knock on his door.

"Yeah?" He calls out.

"Cameron, it's almost dinner time. You know you don't need to be late." His mother calls out.

He groans. Dinner is the last thing he wants right now. An hour of sitting with his parents and his little brother, being grilled on almost everything in his life. School, grades... girls. Family time becomes more awkward with every passing day.

And oh, he can't be late for dinner. Especially not when it's his turn to set the table. His father is kind, and fair, but somehow his mind has never quite left the military and lately it's driving Cam crazy. The frustration that wells in him is futile and pointless and he knows it, because Cam has said since he was practically old enough to say the word 'plane' that he wants to be a pilot just like his father. Cam's smart enough to do it; he'll never be applying to MENSA but he's got a knack for math and engineering and a passion for aeronautics that makes learning it fun and rewarding. Since he has the passion down, Frank Mitchell has taken it upon himself to make the perfect soldier, and according to him military men need to know their place and how to follow orders. That's why Cam's got to get used to a strictly regimented life right now. It'll put him ahead of the game, his father says, and Cam would hate it more if he didn't sound so damn proud.

Cam's brother is already in the kitchen when Cam walks in. Will is sitting at the table with a text book in front of him, but Cam can see that he's not studying. He's doodling on his notebook and he looks up at Cam. "Your turn to set the table."

"I know," Cam snaps. "That's why I'm here, stupid."

Will looks momentarily hurt and Cam knows he should feel bad for snapping at him. Will's only ten and he hasn't done anything to earn Cam's ire but right now life in general is pissing Cam off.

"Sorry," he mumbles, but Will is already calling out for their mother.

Cam winces. The last thing he needs is punishment duty on top of everything else he's had to deal with today.

"Cameron!" Wendy says, scowling. "You'd better be glad your father didn't hear that."

"Hear what?" Frank says, walking in.

*

He spends the rest of the evening cleaning out the garage, under instruction to think about how he treats others.

*

Of course, Cam's also been taught most of his life not to give up on the things that he wants. Competitiveness doesn't make him mean, but he doesn't like losing, either. He knows there's nothing wrong with some good hard work, persistance, and patience.

So he finds Vala again.

She seems a little surprised to see him there. "Cameron, was it?"

"Got it in one," he says, smiling. He's trying for more confident and cool now, and it'll probably end up backfiring but he doesn't have much to lose.

Besides his dignity.

And his pride.

And his reputation around the school as being not a total loser.

"You have history next, right? Mr. Hill? I had him last semester, he's killer with those pop quizzes but ir's not so bad once you catch on that he only does them every other Thursday."

"Pop quizzes?" Vala looks down at her textbook. "Every other Thursday? That would be... today. I guess I really should have read that assignment..."

Cam winces. "Sorry."

"Well, at least I know to prepare for the pain now." She brushes her hair over her shoulder. Cam's got sort of a fixation on her hair; it's long, and shining, and thick, and so black. He itches to run his fingers through it. He gets distracted watching her but thinks he manages to cover it before she notices.

"Yeah... uh, my class is that way too, if you want to walk?" Cam gives her what he hopes is his most charming smile.

She looks like she's going to make a comment and he's already preparing for the worst, and then she just sort of shrugs. "Lead the way."

*

He sits in his fifth period physics class and doesn't hear a word that Mr. Chavis says. All he can think about is how her arm touched his when someone bumped into her. It's pathetic how much that one little bit of contact impacts him; pathetic to the point where he has to think hard about the pain of getting his arm broken after a linebacker with a hundred pounds on him tackled him, before he can get up and leave class once the bell rings.

*

He's on his way to the cafeteria when he sees Vala in a very heated discussion with one of the other kids in school. He's not popular, not a jock, doesn't run in the same circles as Cam. Cam can't even really remember his name, but he wears glasses and has a permanent scowl on his face. Cam's never felt any particular desire to get to know him better and suddenly he's not regretting that decision.

The guy is standing in front of Vala, arms crossed, crowding her against the wall. She's clearly arguing back, but she looks more upset than angry.

He sees the guy reach out and arm and shove Vala a little. Not a lot, nothing harmful, more of a gesture of frustration than anything else, but Cam spots a chance - an opportunity to make an impression, maybe even a good one.

Besides, he _likes_ Vala, and he doesn't want to see anyone pushing her around.

"Hey, man, leave her alone," Cam says.

The guy turns and squints at Cam. "Listen, Mitchell, I appreciate the concern but this is none of your-"

"I said leave her alone," Cam repeats.

He sneaks a glimpse at Vala's face and she's gaping at him, looking somewhat taken aback. She doesn't say anything, though.

"And I said this is none of your business." The kid - Daniel! Cam finally remembers his name, it's Daniel - turns toward Cam now. They're about the same height but Cam definitely has some weight and muscle on him. Daniel's scrawny, glasses taking up half of his face, hair flopping in his eyes.

"Yeah? Cause it looked an awful lot to me like you were pushing her around." Cam steps forward, trying to be intimidating, but Daniel just rolls his eyes.

That annoys Cam and he reaches without thinking, shoving Daniel. Now it's Daniel that looks shocked, jaw hanging open. "Did you just-"

"Mr. Mitchell," a voice behind him booms, and Cam shuts his eyes and counts to three before turning to face the teacher. "Come with me."

*

He isn't expecting to find her sitting on the steps outside of school waiting on him when he's finally released, two hours after the end of the school day.

"Why did you do that?" She asks.

He's also not expecting that from her; that attitude, that anger, that hostility. He actually takes a step back, feeling defensive. "He was being an asshole."

She glares at him. "I don't need you to defend my honor."

He looks at her. He's at a loss, not sure what to say. "Okay."

"That's it?" She looks even more annoyed, somehow. "That's all you have to say?"

"What do you want me to say?" He's suddenly annoyed with all of this. It's been a shitty day; detention, missing football practice, which means he'll have to sit out the game, and because of that he'll have to tell his father.

He looks at Vala and instead of the object of every fantasy, desire, and wishful thought he's had for the past month, all he sees is a girl. "You don't know anything about me," Vala says.

"No, I don't." Cam just stands there. "But I'd like to."

"What?"

He shakes his head and hikes his backpack further up on his shoulder. "Nothing. Forget it. Forget I said anything."

He walks away and she doesn't stop him.

*

His father is, predictably, unhappy with the situation.

But he's also fair about it. He sits Cam's down and listens to Cam's side of the story. He commends Cam's intentions and scolds his execution of those good intentions. Cam takes in the lecture, tamping down the unrest inside of him, because that's just what he does; he's a good kid, cursed with the maturity to understand that the world and his parents are not actually out to get him, and that makes it a lot harder to just blow everything off.

He thinks the lecture is over and he's already planning his getaway, but his father has one more question. "So, son. Who is she?"

"Uh..." Cam fumbles for an answer. "You don't know her."

"Should we?" Frank Mitchell gives Cam an appraising look.

"No, there's nothing going on. She doesn't even know I like her."

"Well," Frank laughs. "She might now. It's not Amy, is it?"

"No, not Amy." His interest on Amy Vandenburg is the worst secret he's ever tried to keep. He's known her since first grade and until a few months before had thought his crush on her incurable. All it had really taken was a date and a couple of very awkward kisses for him to realize that sometimes the fantasy doesn't live up to the reality.

Maybe that's a lesson he should keep in mind with Vala. But his maturity only exceeds so far and at the end of the day, he's still sixteen.

*

The next day is Wednesday.

Cam stays far away from Vala's locker.

*

On Thursday, he finds a note folded up and stuck through the grate on his locker.

He stands there, book balanced in the crook of one arm, and unfolds it to read.

Cameron- You wouldn't happen to still have copies of last semester's quizzes, would you?

It's written in pink pen that smells like bubble gum and she's signed her name with big swirls. He grins a little bit, despite himself, and stuffs the note into his pocket.

*

He doesn't see her again until Monday, which means he spends the entire weekend deliberating over whether or not he should talk to her. His feet end up making the decision for him and somehow he's just there, waiting on her. She smiles when she sees him and breaks off talking to another girl that's just come out of the same classroom.

"I don't have copies of the quizzes," he starts off by saying. "He changes them up every semester anyway. But I do still have my notes, so if you needed some help... I was pretty good in history."

She looks surprised and he tries not to be offended by that. "I hadn't pegged you for a history buff."

He shrugs. "I'm not, really. But I study a lot. I need good grades, I'm planning on going into the Air Force."

She looks him up and down in a way that makes him shiver a little. "Mm, yes, I can actually envision that. So, you'd be willing to help me study, now would you?"

"Yeah," he says, grinning back just a bit. "I mean, if you ask nicely."

She laughs and then leans in close to him. "Please?"

"Uh," he croaks out.

He can smell her shampoo.

Fuck.

"I'll take that as a yes." She winks at him and walks away.

*

"What do you look so happy about?" Darryl asks.

Darryl and Cam have been friends since Cam's family moved to Kansas in Cam's freshman year. He's probably the first best friend Cam has ever had, with his typical military brat upbringing that made making good friends difficult at the best of times. Cam hadn't had any issues making casual friends; he's always been smart, and friendly, polite enough to impress teachers and with a collection of cool stories to tell from traveling around the world that made him popular with his classmates. But those friends had come and gone with every move and it's only since they've settled in Auburn that Cam has learned what it feels like to have a friend he's not already planning on saying goodbye to before they've even really said hello.

Darryl's not the smartest, or the funniest, or the most popular, but he likes the same video games as Cam and somehow, they'd just clicked.

"Got a study date," Cam says.

He won't kiss and tell, but it's not like there's been any kissing yet... nothing wrong with bragging about studying, right? He figures not. Darryl clearly sees beyond that, though. "Aw, buddy! Holding out on me! Come on, spill, who is it?"

"Uh, this new girl, I don't know if you've noticed her-"

"Vala? Vala Mal Doran?" Darryl flops back onto the bed, groaning. "Noticed her? You'd have to be dead not to notice her. And even then that'd be awfully good incentive to come back from the dead, just to check out those legs. Man, how did you manage that?"

Cam laughs. "She asked me, actually."

"Please tell me study is a euphemism."

"Uh, I'm just gonna assume it really means she needs help in history," Cam says.

"Just, just, promise me, if you get to third base with her, you'll tell me what it's like?" Darryl begs.

"Nope," Cam says, easily. "No way."

"You're no fun!" Darryl gripes.

Cam just smirks and throws him a game controller.

*

"I'll be late for dinner tonight," Cam says, just before he's headed out the door.

He's hoping the comment will go unnoticed.

Of course, it doesn't.

"Not another detention, is it?" Wendy sounds disappointed and Cam hates that.

He leans over and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "No, Mom, it's not. I have a tutoring session."

"Are you having trouble in any of your classes?" She asks.

"Nah, I'm helping someone else."

"Well, isn't that nice of you." She smiles, getting Will's lunch ready. "Give us a call if you need someone to pick you up."

Cam makes a face. "You could just get me a truck..."

"Yeah, why don't you try asking your father again? That went well last time, didn't it?" She teases him.

Cam slings his backpack over his shoulder and heads for the door, turning to call out behind him. "You're no help!"

*

She's sitting outside the library when he walks up, scribbling furiously in a notebook. He stands in front of her and she looks up slowly, face breaking out into a wide smile.

"You're not late."

"Why would I be?" Cam asks.

"I don't know. Fashionable entrance?"

Cam laughs. "I'll leave that to you."

"Oh, does that mean you want me to leave, just so I can come back?" She closes her notebook and stands up, still speaking without waiting for a response from him. "Please tell me you didn't want to actually study in there."

"What's wrong with the library? That's where people usually study."

"It's so boring and quiet..." She pouts.

"Well, where else would you want to go study?"

"Somewhere we can get food."

"Food?"

"Yes," she says, looking around. "Do you have a vehicle?"

"Uh, no," he says, opting not to mention the bike he rides to school. "Not yet. I mean, my parents-"

"Well, we'll just walk somewhere. Are there any good places to eat around here? I'll let you buy me fries..."

*

Cam has no idea how this turned into something that involves more pizza, fries, and ice cream than actual studying but right now he doesn't really care.

They're sitting at a picnic table outside the ice cream place. She's licking an ice cream cone like it's the best thing he's ever seen and Cam gets so distracted watching her that his own drips over his fingers. "So how are you liking Colorado?"

Vala shrugs. "It's fine."

"Yeah? What part of town do you live in?" He asks.

She shrugs again. "I don't like your choice in small talk, Cameron. You don't really want to know about me-"

"I do," he says, interrupting her.

She looks a little surprised, and then smiles. "You're entirely too nice."

"Yeah? Is that a problem?"

"I don't know," she admits. "I haven't met very many nice people in my life."

"Like Daniel Jackson?" Cam asks, unable to stop himself.

She bites her bottom lip, then says, "You know, he had a reason for being so angry with me that day."

"Yeah?" Cam asks, hoping she'll go on.

She hesitates, then continues. "We have the same foster parents."

Cam hadn't been expecting that. "Wow... I didn't know..."

"Of course not, how would you?"

"So he's like... your brother?"

"Foster brother," she corrects him. "Let's not make it into more than it is. I've only known him a month."

"So why was he mad at you?"

Vala grins sheepishly. "I might have taken it upon myself to instill some sibling-like bonds to our relationship. Such as... assuming that he'd be open to sharing his monetary advantages..."

"Huh?" Cam's not dim by any means, but he's also never met anyone that words things quite like Vala.

"I stole fifty dollars from his room." She takes a big crunch out of her cone and then licks her lips, looking gleeful.

Cam laughs. "So he was mad at you for that?"

"Well, when you walked up, he was asking me if I'd taken it."

"What did you say?"

"What do you think I said?" Vala smirks. "I denied everything."

Cam laughs. "So do I owe him an apology now?"

"Of course not!" Vala looks horrified at the thought. "Cameron, I clearly have a lot to teach you. Never, never apologize."

"I thought I was supposed to be teaching you? We haven't done much tutoring here..."

She grins. "Aw, are you worried about my grades? And here I thought we were having fun."

"It is fun," he admits. "But I need to head home soon."

He thinks she actually looks disappointed, and that more than anything puts a smile on his face.

*

The next day at school Daniel Jackson corners him.

"She's trouble," he says.

Cam lets his mouth run off with him again, because something about this guy - about the way he talks to Vala - just gets under his skin, even knowing that he'd had a reason before. "Maybe I like trouble."

Jackson rolls his eyes. "No, Mitchell, you like getting straight A's and hearing cheerleaders scream out your name. You do not like trouble."

Cam's temper flares for real this time. "Maybe I like her."

"Now that I believe," Jackson says. "But somehow I doubt it's her sparkling wit and intellect you're into. I get it, she's hot, whatever - but she's also not worth it. Look, I'm just trying to give you a friendly warning. The folks that foster us? They like to take in last chance cases, apparently."

"So what does that say about you?" Cam shoots back."

"That I have a bad attitude but hey, I'm not the one that got sent back from their last four foster homes and spent six months in juvie for stealing anything I could get my hands on."

"I'm a big boy, Jackson, I can make decisions for myself," Cam says.

He has a hard time equating the girl he spent four hours with the night before, to the picture Daniel is painting. And, hell, maybe Jackson's right and Cam's blinded by something besides his brain, but right now it doesn't matter. He feels what he feels and this absurd need to stand up for, to protect Vala, as ill advised as it may be, doesn't feel like it's going away any time soon.

*

She's always alone.

Cam notices it - it's strange, at first it's hard to tell, because she smiles a lot, talks a lot, makes a lot of noise... and yet still, somehow, she's always alone. She's never in the place it would be most noticeable, the cafeteria - she never eats lunch there.

He catches her in the hallway and falls in step beside her without even asking her where she's going. "You want to sit with me at lunch?"

"Why, Cameron," she says, smiling widely though there's something missing in it, something that he'd seen a few days before, when they'd gone out... to study. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were asking to go steady. Isn't that what you folks do here in the states? Feed each other stale fish sticks and gaudy trade jackets with sewn on emblems?"

"That's a lot of venom directed at a meal," Cam says, trying to make light though he can't entirely hide his confusion. "Did one of the lunch ladies kick your puppy?"

"I just don't like eating with the other students," she says.

"I noticed. So where do you go?"

She glances around like she wants to escape but really there's nowhere for her to go. "I have places."

"Like...?" He gets a bit pushier and she looks annoyed.

"I value my privacy."

"You said you have places, more than one. So just show me one. Come on... I'll share my cupcakes. My mom makes the best..." He holds up the bag that they're in.

That sparks her interest. "What kind?"

"Strawberry, with chocolate cream on the inside and chocolate icing."

"It's really not fair, bribing me with chocolate," Vala says. "In fact, it's a rather dirty tactic... and I approve of those on principle, so... fine."

Cam grins, feeling triumphant. "I'll come find you when you're out of history class."

He walks away before she has a chance to rethink it.

*

"Cam, man, wrong way for the grub," Darryl says, walking up behind Cam.

"I'm having lunch with Vala today," Cam says, more than a little pride in his voice.

Darryl doesn't even have the decency not to look shocked. "Seriously?"

"What? You knew I was seeing her the other night."

"I figured she just wanted you to do her homework for her or something," Darryl admits. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you're not exactly a dog-"

"I'm touched."

"-but she is one serious smoking hottie, and I heard she turned down like six guys the first week she was here."

"Seriously?" Cam says, figuring it's exaggeration but... considering what Vala looks like...

Cam's ego grows about three sizes.

  
*

He's still grinning when he sees her walking out of her history class.

"How prompt," she comments.

"I try." He doesn't bother explaining how he asked his teacher if he could leave 10 minutes early to drop off some donations for the canned good drive. He figures the mystery is more impressive.

He's probably right.

"Well, come on." She wraps her arm around his, hand warm against his bicep. "Let's go discover one of my secrets..."

Cam tries to quiet the voice in his mind that is now keeping up a steady chant of _she's touching me she's touching me she's touching me_.

She leads him out behind the school, past the baseball field, to a small crop of trees. He's never been this far back behind the school and he's surprised no one catches them, calls them back, but Vala walks with purpose and the few teachers they see are distracted with other things.

She drops her backpack at a small clearing just past a row of trees and then spreads her arms with a flourish. "Here you go. Is it everything you imagined?"

He grins. "And more."

"So, I believe you mentioned cupcakes?" She sits down on the grass and looks up at him expectantly.

"Don't you want real food first?" He grabs his backpack, pulling out a couple of sandwich bags. "Here."

Vala doesn't ask what it is, just takes it. When she bites into the oozing peanut butter and jelly it gets everywhere. He digs through his bag again and pulls out a crumpled napkin. He almost hands it to her but at the last moment changes his mind and reaches up to wipe at the corner of her mouth instead. She smiles at him, soft and sort of surprised. "Thank you."

"No problem." He stares at that smile, kind of taken in, and then lets the hand holding the napkin drop down a bit, leaving it crumpled on the ground beside him.

Vala polishes her sandwich off in an impressive amount of time, and then just lays back. She breathes in deep and her eyes shut and Cam watches her. Her hair is in pigtails, ends curling against her shoulders, a sparkling barrette holding back her bangs.

"You're staring," she says, eyes still shut.

Cam jumps like he's been caught, but she's smiling, and she doesn't seem to mind. "You're pretty," he says, finding his courage somewhere between breaths.

"Well, of course I am." She opens one eye and smirks. He jumps when he feels a touch on his hand. Her fingers wrap around his wrist and she tugs. "Lay down with me."

"I have cupcakes." As soon as the words leave his mouth he has no idea why he said it. He feels his skin heat up and hopes he isn't blushing.

"We'll get to them." She tugs more insistently. "Don't you want to lay down with me?"

He feels awkward as he moves position, leaves crunching under him. Her grip on his wrist slackens but her hand doesn't move. It doesn't take much to make it so that her fingers are against his instead and then they're holding hands.

Now he's trying not to smile, heart starting to hammer in his chest. He turns his head to the side and looks at her. Her face is close to his.

"i'm glad you think I'm pretty," she whispers, and then leans in, their lips touching.

He kisses her softly once, chastely, finding his bearings before doing it again with more pressure, lips parting, a hint of wetness. He doesn't want to be too pushy or test his luck and he starts to pull away. Vala makes a small noise of protest so he kisses her again and then he's not really sure if he's leading this any more at all because it's her tongue he feels swiping over his lip and then inside his mouth and he has no idea how much time passes before they part.

She's the one that breaks the kiss and he's fine with that, used to ending makeout sessions with a hard on and a stupid grin that won't go away, but there's no polite distancing here. She pushes his shoulder until his back hits the ground again and then straddles him. His eyes go wide and there's a moment of utter panic because fuck, she's gonna feel how hard he is, and that's just not how he does things; that's not how _girls_ do things.

Vala, once again, proves she isn't most girls. She puts her hands on his face and kisses him again, like she wants to eat him alive. Her breasts press to his chest and he tries not to think about that, tries not to think about anything, because thinking will lead to other potentially humiliating reactions. It's better if he just focuses on the kiss, her tongue hot and alive in his mouth, her hands... oh god, her hands moving through his hair, and her thumb passes over a spot that makes his cock jerk and there's no way she didn't feel that.

She doesn't even pretend like she didn't, either; she laughs low and that sound shoots right through him leaving warmth in its path. "Really?" She murmurs against his mouth, thumb finding that spot again and pressing, rubbing, massaging lightly. He groans because he can't _not_ , it's like that spot is some sort of direct nerve connection to his balls, and he has to push her hand away to get himself under control.

"Uh. Yeah," he says after a few seconds of just breathing. "Really."

"I like that..." She sits back and rests her hands on his chest, sitting right on him. It's so hard not to thrust up against the delicious pressure of her body but he doesn't.

She's not entirely unaffected. He can see the flush high on her cheeks and the way she's breathing a little faster. He gets a charge thinking that she might be enjoying this just as much as him. He puts his hands on her hips, not sure what else to do with them, and asks, "What about you? Where... what do you like?"

She leans down and kisses him and he thinks she's not going to answer but then she moves her hips, grinding against him. She's breathing harder almost right away and wiggles her hips, making a frustrated noise. She does it again with more insistance. His fingers tighten on her hips and she reaches down and moves one of them, guides it up to cup her breast. He thrusts without even meaning to and Vala gasps, shuddering slightly. "That," she says.

"Um." Cam swallows hard. "Yeah."

Vala leans forward and drops another kiss on his mouth. "So... cupcakes?"

It takes him a minute to redirect enough blood flow to process what she's saying. "Um- oh. Yeah. Uh. In my bag."

She twists around, still sitting on him, and unzips his backpack. She pulls out the cupcakes and bites into one, moaning in delighted surprise when the sweetness hits her tongue. All Cam can think is that she's _moaning_ while she _sits on his dick_.

"Want some?" She asks, offering it down to him. She waits a few seconds and then starts to giggle.

Cam sits up, one arm still around her, and makes a pretend annoyed face. "What are you laughing at?"

She ignores the question. "These cupcakes are delicious. Did you make them?"

"My mother did." He sticks his tongue out at her. She leans forward and licks it, catching him off guard.

She holds it out for him so he can take a bite. "Lunch period is almost over."

"That eager to get back to class?" He asks, reaching up and pushing a lock of hair that's escaped her barrette out of her face. She leans into the touch, just briefly, and then in a fluid motion she's off of his lap, up and standing and grabbing her backpack.

"Why of course, Cameron. I'm an absolutely model student, didn't you know?" She smirks, reaching down and snagging the other cupcake. "I'll see. you... soon, I'm sure."

*

The rest of the day passes in a daze. He can't concentrate on any of his classes and he's pretty sure that he sleepwalks through football practice but all he can think about is kissing Vala. He replays every moment in his mind and when he's not doing that he's thinking of the next time he could kiss her.

He tries to limit his mind to just kissing because otherwise he's really got a problem. At least he thinks he can avoid that problem but the thing is, even Vala's kisses make his blood pump faster, and it takes getting slammed from behind by a linebacker twice his weight knocking the wind out of him to take care of that little issue once it starts to rear its head.

*

His mother comments on it that night, of course.

Of _course_.

Cam loves his mother. He really does. But he can't help but wish once in a while she were a little less attentive, a little less observant.

"Ready to tell us yet?" She levels a gaze at him over the dinner table.

Cam shakes his head. "There's nothing to tell. Not really."

Something in that sentence gives away much more than he'd intended, but he manages to escape the meal with his secrets more or less in tact. He's not sure where the reluctance is born from but he just isn't sure that his parents would get Vala. He's not sure he gets Vala himself, honestly, but he wants to make sure if he can manage to make it far enough with her that she wants to meet his parents, that he can orchestrate it carefully.

*

Vala isn't in school the next day.

Cam finds Daniel Jackson between classes and corners him.

"Where's Vala?"

Daniel looks annoyed. "I'm not her keeper. How am I supposed to know?"

*

Football practice, dinner, homework... video games. Will's bedtime comes and goes. His dad goes to bed early, and it's usually just Cam and his mom for the last few hours of the night, until she tells him it's time to turn off the tv. He grumbles about having a bed time but not too much, because he's a good boy and listens to his mother, like good boys do.

Then he opens his bedroom door and sees Vala.

She's sitting on his bed crosslegged flipping through a notebook. When she hears the door open she looks up at him and gives him a great big smile that doesn't at all reach her eyes. "Cameron! There you are. I've been waiting _forever_."

"Uh. Next time I'll try and be more prompt... what are you doing here?" He asks, dumbfounded.

"What if I just wanted to see you?"

"Vala..."

"I'd rather not talk about it." She gets up and walks over to him, putting her arms around him. She's bare foot, shoes by his bed, and so is he. She's not much shorter than him.

She kisses him, mouth warm and wet on his, and he kisses because because what else is he supposed to do? And then he pushes her away gently, hands on her shoulders. "Vala?"

"I can leave, if you'd rather." Her voice is hard but something wavers underneath it.

"What? No... I just... hell. I'm kind of confused here," he says, looking at her.

"I need somewhere to stay." She pouts, so cutely.

"What about your foster home?"

"Cameron..." She steps forward against him, putting her head on his shoulder. "Please?"

He's such a sucker.

*

Vala's hungry, so he sneaks back downstairs and to the kitchen through darkened hallways, the rest of the house sleeping quietly. He gets her a glass of juice and an apple and a packet of cookies, and she eats them all sitting cross-legged on his bed.

He sits on the bed too, back against the headboard, just watching her. The overhead light is turned off, just the lamp by his bed on. It's enough that they can see without raising suspicion should one of his parents or Will get up in the middle of the night. The door is locked, too, but he still wants

She finishes the food and puts the empty glass and wrapper and apple core on the table beside his bed, then makes herself at home beside him like she does this every day. She puts her head on his shoulder and squirms until he wraps an arm around her, sighing contentedly. "So, I can stay here tonight?"

She's still all smiles and coy hotness but he knows there's something else going on. She looks exhausted, her hair in a ponytail, her face clean of makeup. There's a small bag by his bed that he assumes is hers but it isn't her backpack.

He's pretty sure both of his parents would have a heart attack.

He's pretty sure he's not going to tell Vala she has to leave.

"Yeah," he says, and she wraps her arms around him in a hug. It makes him smile. "You can have the bed, I'll get a blanket or something and sleep on the floor."

"What?" She seems surprised.

"I'm not gonna make you sleep on the floor..."

"Well, I'd hope not," she says, and doesn't let him get up. "You can't sleep in here with me?"

"I don't... I mean... it's a small bed." It's a twin, and even as tiny as Vala is, it'll be crowded. "Are you sure?"

She nods, almost shyly. "Please?"

"Okay." He looks at her and she tilts her head toward his and kisses him again, softly this time.

"I need something to wear to sleep in," she says, pulling away. "Can I have one of your shirts?"

"Uh... sure."

He's not sure what he expects but when he hands her the shirt she isn't shy about changing into it. He's too astounded to even do the polite thing and turn away; instead he watches while she lifts her own shirt over her head and then slips his on instead. She slithers out of her jeans and then in some sort of gravity defying motion reaches behind her and shrugs her shoulders and then her little pink bra lands on top of the pile of clothes.

He holds his breath to see if anything else will come off and isn't sure if he's relieved or disappointed when the panties stay on.

"Your turn," she says, definitely teasing him now. She sits on the bed and his shirt is big on her but not that big. He can see long, pale legs and thighs that make his mouth water.

He tries not to be too nervous when he takes off his own pants and then pulls his shirt over his head. Boxers briefs and t-shirt; it's what he sleeps in every night but somehow he feels so much more unclothed right now. He turns away to change and when he moves back around she's already under the covers. His heart nearly stops at the sight of her snug under his blanket looking back out at him.

He has no idea what he's doing right now but she smiles at him and he goes to join her.

*

  
*

Cam turns the light out and then there's nothing but darkness and Vala.

He might feel hesitant and awkward but she doesn't seem to. She curls herself against him, arms slipping around his midsection and leaving him no choice but to hold her.

"You really are too nice," she whispers, breaking the silence.

Her hair tickles his cheek and he smooths it down, then impulsively kisses the top of her head. "Why do you sound so surprised when you say that?"

"There aren't very many nice people in the world."

"You've just been around the wrong people," he says.

"Are you saying I need to be around you more?" She slides a hand under his shirt. His pulse starts to thrum a little faster. "Because I really wouldn't mind that."

"Me either." His fingers are playing in her hair now and every touch, every lack of an inch between them, suddenly feels so much more acute. Their bodies are so close under the covers and it's so dark. Her fingers play on his skin, nails tickling at the hair just under his belly button. He groans under his breath. "Vala..."

Of course, it causes the natural reaction to being a sixteen year old boy and being touched _anywhere_. But it's different because it's night and she's in his bed and... well, she's Vala and he wants her so much he can taste it.

"Yes?" Her breath is warm on his skin, through his shirt. "You smell good."

"You need to stop that." He isn't sure his voice is exactly brimming with conviction there but at least he's said it.

"Do I? Whatever for?" One fingertip slips beneath the band of his underwear. If he hadn't already been hard, that would have done it. However, her next words throw him. "I want to thank you..."

He reaches down and puts his hand over hers, stilling her fingers. "Vala, you don't have to thank me."

She pulls her hand back. "Do you not want..."

"Of course, but... not like... you make it sound like you have to." Vala doesn't say anything, but she pulls away from him - more than just her hand, her entire body - and rolls away, no longer facing him. Cam tries to quell his panic at having said the wrong thing. "Vala?"

"Yes?" She answers him quietly.

He rolls over onto his side too, pulling her back against him. She lets him. "I wanted you to. But you don't have to. You don't have to thank me. That's not how this works."

He feels like holding his breath while he waits for her to respond, not sure if that was the totally wrong thing to say again or not. But she grabs his hand and squeezes his fingers with a death grip. "I can't go back there."

"You don't have to." He realizes on some level that it's an empty promise, but at the time he says it he means it. Something hurt her and he'd do anything to keep her from being hurt again. "Stay here."

He can feel how her breathing goes funny and she doesn't answer. He lifts himself up more so he can look at her better in the thin light filtering in from street lamps outside.

She's crying.

"Vala..." He pulls her into him and hugs her tightly. Her hands clench into fists on his shirt and she shudders as she tries to contain her sobs. Whatever happened, it must have been bad.

He holds her for as long as it takes for her tears to subside and then uses his sleeve to wipe her face dry. She gasps slightly to get her breath back and doesn't let go of him. "Thank you."

"Anything," he says.

"Kiss me." She makes the request and, well, that one's pretty easy.

She doesn't even kiss back at first and that throws him but he figures if she needs it... he keep sit soft and gentle, lowers her down against the mattress again and deepens it slightly. That's when she starts to respond and he thinks he must have already learned how she kisses because this is different. She's looking for something and he wants to be the answer to that.

She reaches down and takes his hand, putting it on her breast. He can feel the stiffness of a nipple through the t-shirt - his t-shirt - and he makes a sound of want into her mouth. Somehow that noise kickstarts her into action and she arches her body up against his.

"Touch me," she says, tongue licking into his mouth. He moves his hand under her shirt. This is as far as he's ever gone with a girl; groping, a quick feel. But it hadn't been like this - not in his bed, not at night, not with nothing with stop them from any more. The idea thrills and terrifies him. Vala's breast is warm and soft in his hand and when he pinches the nipple just a little she sinks her teeth into his bottom lip and tugs. "More."

He does it again, a little harder, squeezes the handful of flesh and he can't remember ever being quite this hard before. They make out, hot and wet and frenzied, Vala mewling against him. She slides a thigh between his and presses against his erection.

"Vala..."

"Touch me," she says again, pushing her hips up. He knows what she means, there's no way to mistake it. He can feel her damp through her panties against his leg. "Please?"

He moves onto his side and keeps kissing her, putting a hand on her stomach. His stomach flips with anticipation; he's never done this before. "Are you sure?"

He's asking more for himself than her. She nods and stares at him with wide eyes and he feels like he could just stare at her forever. "I want you to. I want to feel good."

He slides his fingertips underneath her panties. They're both holding their breath but she releases hers in a long exhale when he doesn't stop, just keeps going until his fingertips encounter trimmed curls and then past that, to warm wet skin. It's not what he'd expected and he has no idea what feels good to her so he keeps his eyes on her face. Her own eyes shut and his finger swipes over a spot that makes her body jerk. He tries to find it again but he's on sensation overload, wants more, wants to keep going, so he does. His finger traces the delicate folds and goes between them, not quite inside of her, but getting closer. "Vala?"

"Stop asking," she says, cupping the back of his neck and kisses him. "Do it."

He pushes a finger inside of her and it's so wet and tight and, fuck, he's _in her_ , his finger is in her, and he doesn't even know what to do besides just leave it there. His heart is pounding and he's pretty sure he's about ten seconds away from coming in his pants if he stops to think about what he's doing too closely, so he just thinks about her instead.

"Show me what you want." He says, not a question this time. "I don't know what feels good to you."

"You do." And then she squeezes herself around his finger. "Put another one in."

He does, and it's tighter this time, and she gasps a little in something that maybe isn't quite pleasure, turning her head to the side. He kisses her neck because it's there and long and pale and he doesn't move his fingers, giving her a minute to get used to it. She lets him know in her own way when she wants him to move them; she thrusts her body against him, making his fingers sink deeper into her.

He starts to thrust with them and Vala makes that mewling sound again. "Use your thumb... here..."

She reaches down and guides his thumb back to that spot that he'd found before. He's got the internet, sat through anatomy class, heard enough talk that he knows what it is but knowing in textbook terms and feeling what it does to her when he rubs against it are two completely different experiences. She shows him how to rub in circles while he fucks her with his fingers and then stretches out again, arms flung over her head, letting him work her body.

It feels like it takes forever because he keeps losing the right spot and his fingers and wrist are starting to ache but he'll keep doing this for as long as she lets him touch her. It's entirely worth it for the way she starts to whimper and her thighs tighten and she bites her lip. She doesn't give him any warning but he is mesmerized by the way he can tell all the same when she's about to come. Her eyes fly open and she looks right at him and whispers his name and then she's clenching, spasming around him, so much different than he sees in porn and so, so much hotter.

He really can't help it. He tries to, tries so hard, but Vala's coming and his fingers are buried inside her and he can't help it. His dick throbs and he rubs against her hip. She seems to realize and catches his mouth in a hard kiss, bucking against him. His mind whites out and he's coming inside of his underwear, humping helplessly against her until his balls have emptied.

He leaves his fingers inside of her until she relaxes. They're sticky and wet and he wipes them on his t-shirt. He pulls off his underwear and tries to discreetly clean himself up, balling up his shirt and underwear. Vala has her eyes shut again and he wonders if she's gone to sleep, but when he lays back down she immediately curls up against his side. "Thank you."

"Trust me. You really... really... do not have to thank me for that." His mind still feels blown and he doesn't imagine that'll change any time soon.

Vala giggles just a bit. "Yes, I did get the impression that you enjoyed yourself..."

"Hey, now." He lets himself laugh too. "Come on. I'm only human."

She lifts her head and kisses his jaw. "I hope I get to play more next time, too."

He wraps her in a huge hug, overwhelmed with affection and exhilaration suddenly. As the endorphins fade he's suddenly sleepy and he can tell Vala is, too.

*

He wakes up in the morning when his alarm goes off. His hand shoots out to slam down on the snooze button, but Vala's already waking up.

It's Friday, which means it's a school day, and he needs to get up and shower. Vala's fast asleep still, turns away from him and tangled in his sheets. Her hair is a mess and his shirt has ridden up on her. He wants to memorize how she looks right here and now in his bed.

He doesn't want to but he has to wake her. She comes to slowly, grumpily. Once she wakes up she's entirely alert though, and smiling deeply. "Cameron."

Oh. He loves the way she says his name.

"We have to get up. I have to get ready for school, and you have to..."

"Leave?" She gives him a wry smile.

"You've got school, too," he reminds her.

Vala makes a face at him. "I'm not going back there."

Cam isn't sure if it has something to do with what's wrong or not, but he doesn't ask because there's a knock on his door. "Mom says time to get up!" Will shouts.

"You've got a brother?" Vala asks.

He realizes that, despite as close as he feels to her, he and Vala really don't know each other that well at all. He should be working up the nerve to ask her on dates, not helping her hide out. "Yeah. His name is Will."

She slips out of bed and opens the bag. "I don't supposed you can sneak me in your shower, can you? We could conserve water..."

Well, there's a thought that will drive him to distraction all day long.

"Not right now," he says. He sits up in bed, not wanting to get up or out from under the cover because he's still naked and has a morning hard on. "But my mom gives music lessons all afternoon, and Will has Boy Scout's. House is empty from 3 to 5:30. You could come back then."

"Don't you have football practice?" She dresses in front of him without modesty, and he watches. When she's done she rakes her fingers through her hair and pulls it into a messy ponytail.

"I'll skip," he says.

She gives him a big smile and walks over, kissing him on the cheek. "In that case, I'll see you then."

*

In between periods Daniel Jackson walks up to him, gives him a pointed look, and then walks away.

Cam follows him, not because that's what Daniel seems to want him to do, but because he thinks Daniel might be able to give him some answers about Vala.

They walk into an empty classroom. "You know where she is?"

"What happened?"

"She didn't tell you?" Daniel sighs, and actually looks a little troubled. "So you're helping her hide out without even knowing why she needs to hide?"

"You must not think it's all that bad if you didn't tell anyone she'd be with me," Cam points out.

"No, I don't," Daniel admits. "Look, Vala's annoying as hell but she kind of gets under your skin and I don't think she actually does anything with malicious intent. What happened... wasn't her fault. But it's also not my place to say."

Frustration grows inside of Cam. "So that's it? Nothing?"

"Tell her..." Daniel sighs. "I don't know. Tell her that I'm not going to rat her out. And... good luck."

He walks away.


	2. Teenage Dream

Cam goes straight home after school, relieved to see an empty house with no cars in front of it.

What he's not expecting is to find Vala sitting cross-legged on his couch with an open photo album on her lap. "You're home! You had such blonde hair as a child. Is this your brother?"

"Yeah, that's Will... um, hi?" The confusion he feels is evident in his voice.

She closes the photo album and makes a sour face. "As much fun as it is to look at those pictures of you in the bath, do you think I could take a shower now? I'm really reaching unpleasant hygiene levels here."

"Yeah - um, come with me." He plans on letting her use the bathroom nearest his bedroom, though he still has no idea how he'll explain it away should someone come home.

He walks into the bathroom to get out the towel that she'll need. Vala finds him, dropping her bag on the bathroom floor and pulling her shirt over her head. She's wearing the same bra from the night before and he stares in the mirror. "I'll go wait... are you hungry?"

Her face lights up. "Starving!"

"I'll make something to eat then. Just come down when you're ready."

*

Twenty minutes later she walks in wearing shorts and a t-shirt, still toweling her hair dry. "Oh, I feel almost human again," she moans. Her bare feet don't make any noise as she walks across the kitchen to peer at what he's making.

"Macaroni and cheese. Hope you like it." He's not exactly a whiz when it comes to cooking. "I made sandwiches, too."

She reaches past him and grabs one. He can see how hungry she really is, and he's glad he made a lot. "Thank you," she says around a mouthful of turkey on white bread. She's working on her second sandwich by the time he puts the mac and cheese on a plate, too. "Aren't you going to have some?"

He shakes his head. "My folks would wonder why I wasn't eating at dinner."

They sit at the kitchen table and she eats. She finishes three sandwiches and all of the mac and cheese before sitting back, resting a hand on her stomach in that universal signal for feeling too full. "So can I stay here tonight again?"

He thinks about her in his bed, waking up beside her, about Daniel saying it wasn't her fault. "Yeah, of course."

She smiles and gets up, taking her plate over to the sink and washing it. "Where do these go?"

"Just leave it on the counter, I'll put it up," Cam says.

Vala goes back over to him and instead of sitting in another chair, sits on his lap. "I put my bag in your room," she says, like she's making idle conversation, before she leans in to kiss him.

"We should go there," he says, looking at the clock on the wall. "Just in case."

"Isn't it fun, having a dirty little secret?" She grins and stands up, taking her hand in his.

"You're not," he says, stopping her when she starts to walk.

"What? Dirty? A secret? ... yours?" She waits for him to answer.

"That, uh, the last one." He's proud of how he only stumbles slightly over it.

"Well, you've already had me, in a way."

"That's not what I meant. Are we... together?"

"Most boys don't want any more than what I've already given you."

That one throws him for a minute, but he's not dumb, he catches on. "I do."

"You might change your mind," she warns him.

"I won't." He smiles at her and squeezes her hand. "Promise."

*

They're in the middle of making out on his bed when he stops and blurts out, "Daniel Jackson came up to me today at school."

Vala frowns, pouting her kiss-reddened lips so cutely. "What did he want?"

"To know where you were." He figures he's gone this far, so he plunges ahead. "I asked him what happened. Why you ran away."

Vala instantly looks guarded, and wary. "What did he say?"

"That it wasn't his to tell."

"Well, he does have some instinct for self preservation, after all," Vala says, relieved.

"I still think you should tell me." He touches her, just because he can, relieved himself when she doesn't pull away. He sort of feels like she could slip out of his grasp at any moment, still.

She shakes her head and puts her arms around him, head on his shoulder. "I don't want to think about it."

"Where did you go today?"

"The library... they let you use the computers there. I emailed my father."

"Your father?" He's surprised. "I thought you were... well..."

"An orphan? Oh, no. I've got a father. He just wants nothing to do with me." She sounds flippant. "I should really thank him for at least bringing me to America before he decided he was done with me."

"He just left you?"

"Well, no," she says. "He was arrested. He's a con man, but spectacularly bad at it, at times. They sent me to foster care after that, since I didn't have a legal guardian to claim me."

"And your mom...?"

"Died." Vala sounds, for the first time, truly sad. "She died when I was ten. My father is American, so he brought me here. I was with him for about a year when he got arrested. He's been out of jail for years but... he doesn't want me."

"Why did you email him?" Cam says.

"I always do. It's stupid, I know. But I let him know where I am, when I can. Just in case... it changes so often, though. Even if he wanted to find me..."

Cam doesn't have any idea what he'd do in a situation like Vala's. He's pretty sure he'd never be as strong as she is, though. He kisses her and this time there's something different behind it, something deeper. She gives over to him and lets him lead, her bravado momentarily stripped clean leaving just a girl - sweet smelling, nice tasting, with curious hands and hair that Cam could play with for hours.

The door slams shut downstairs and Cam realizes that he'd completely lost track of time, talking to her. (And, well, the other things they'd been doing.)

He glances over to make sure his door is locked. His parents are pretty good about privacy. It's not normal for anyone to just barge in, but he's still paranoid about it.

"Cameron?" His mother calls out.

"Uh, yeah, Mom, I'm doing homework!" He shouts back.

Vala grins, stretched out alongside him. Her hand is under his shirt, fingers tickling along his skin. He likes how she touches him like she owns him. Maybe he's just a total sucker, maybe he's letting his hormones think for him, but he doesn't mind. Not as long as he can do the same to her.

As if to demonstrate his mental process, he cups her cheek. She tips her face toward his and leans in for the kiss that she clearly expects. He doesn't disappoint, meeting her tongue with his.

Until his mother's voice, closer this time, makes him jump away. "We picked up pizza for dinner, so come take a break from the homework."

"You'd better go... mummy might get upset if you miss dinner," she teases. There's an undertone of derision but considering what he just learned about her family, he won't hold that against her.

"I won't be too long. I'll tell them I want to get homework out of the way early," he says. He's not keen on lying to his parents but right now keeping Vala safe is more important. His moral compass works just fine... and he wants to think his parents would understand. Maybe. Well, except the part about Vala sleeping in his bed, and what they did... but the last thing he wants to think about are his mother and what he and Vala did the night before in the same sentence.

She stretches out on his bed, shirt riding up a little. "I suppose I will just have to find something to do to pass the time..."

He's not even sure if she means it as innuendo but that's where his mind takes it. He grabs his laptop off of the floor. "Here... you can use my computer."

*

If his parents think it's strange that he rushes through dinner, they don't say anything.

Will isn't as polite though. "Do you wanna go play ball?"

"Not tonight," Cam says. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Why not?"

"I've got homework to do."

"Homework?" Will groans. "But it's Friday!"

"Yeah, exactly," Cam says. "If I finish it all tonight I get all weekend to goof off."

It's a line frequently quoted to both of them by their parents, and Cam almost feels guilty for the looks of approval he gets in setting a god example for his brother.

"Can I help?"

"You really want to help with my trig homework?" Cam gives him a disbelieving look. "Hey, you can use the X-Box and play Halo if Dad'll let you."

"Really?" Will doesn't get to use Cam's video game systems much... not the one that Cam bought himself, with his own money. "Dad?"

"If Cameron doesn't mind," Frank says.

He looks at Cam and Cam can tell he's just racked up even more brownie points. That's mostly what gives him the confidence to say, "You guys mind if I just take some of this back up to my room?"

"Your homework that exciting?" There's a hint of suspicion in his mother's voice.

Cam laughs. "Uh, no. But I wanted to give this girl a call and she said she wouldn't be home after six..."

"Girl?" That distracts his mother plenty. "The one you were tutoring?"

"Yeah, her." Cam grins and this time doesn't try to deny what's going on. He's hoping that this will satisfy his parents curiosity if they think he's been hiding something. "We're kind of dating... at least, I hope we are."

"Well, that explains the good mood," Frank laughs. "When can we meet her?"

His eyes flicker nervously toward the door. "Soon, I guess."

But not too soon, he hopes.

*

He takes three slices back up, already familiar enough with her to know that she likes food.

"Your friend has been sending you messages," she says, scooting back on the bed so he can join her after he's locked the door.

"Oh, I must not have signed off," Cam says. "That's Darryl. Hope he didn't bug you."

"Oh, no. We had a rather fun discussion." She bites into one of the slices, leaving him to pull his computer over and look at the chat log that she's left up. "I hope you don't mind. I was bored."

"What... you really told him that?" Cam's jaw drops when he reads her messages.

"Yes, consider your high school reputation now significantly boosted." She snaps a long stretchy string of cheese and it hits her chin. "He says we have a class together but I can't quite place him."

"Yeah, well, he knows you," Cam says.

What Vala's written is not exactly truth; it's a detailed admission of exactly how talented and well endowed Cam is in certain areas. Even knowing it as an exaggeration it still makes Cam a little happy, in a very base sort of way. He's grinning when he types a goodbye to Darryl and shuts the laptop.

"You also need to learn how to hide certain files better..."

"What?!" He looks at her in disbelief.

"Well, I told you I'd find ways to amuse myself... They're right there, just waiting for anyone to discover them!"

"In a hidden folder with the extensions changed."

"A hidden folder that's just waiting there for anyone to discover it!" She snickers. "Don't worry, darling. I think it's quite flattering that you've been searching for porn with dark haired Australian girls."

He's sure his face is beet red right now. "I was just... I mean..."

"The question is, did you save those files before or after you met me? Am I just fulfilling some sort of fetish?"

"After!" Cam says, then realized that he'd fallen right into her little trap. He tries to tease back. "You were smart enough to find a hidden folder, but not to check the timestamp?"

"I just distracted." She winks. "We can do that, you know."

"Huh?"

"I mean, not the acrobatics in that second video, but if you want to have sex..." She stretches out and puts her head on his pillow, smiling at him. "We could do that."

Cam doesn't know what to say - not for the first time, not even for the twentieth since he met her. She somehow just manages to drive the words right out of him. "I've never had sex."

She looks genuinely surprised at that. "Really?"

He shrugs, trying not to be self-conscious. "Really."

"Oh. So do you... want to?"

Of course his immediate reaction to that is _yes_ but his gut says something different, so he goes with his gut. "Eventually."

"... marriage?" She leaves it sort of a half-question.

He laughs and shakes his head. "Nah. I mean, my folks go to church and everything, but I'm not that religious. I just... want to feel like it's the right moment."

"And this isn't? I'm not... right?" Her voice goes sort of small, and lonely.

He swallows, suddenly realizing he's on dangerous ground. "I feel like we're just getting to know each other."

"I think we became rather well acquainted last night..."

His face heats up for a different reason. "Yeah. And that was... so hot."

"I thought so too." She smiles a bit, and then a thought occurs to her. "Had you ever done that before?"

He does briefly think about lying to try and save some measure of coolness to her, but decides to go with honesty, and shakes his head. "No."

"So has a girl ever..." She reaches out and puts her hand on his thigh, fingers stretching toward the crotch of his pants. "Jerked you off?"

Her eyes are right there and there's no way she can miss the movement under the cloth. "No."

"You don't want to have sex, but does that mean everything is off limits?" She just lets her hand rest there.

"No," he says, then realizes she might misunderstand that. "Not off limits."

She sits up then kneels on the bed, in front of him. "Good."

Her fingers reach down to undo his pants, and he's completely hard before she's even done.

"You've done this before?" He asks.

He thinks for a second that might have broken the spell, the mood, but then she just nods.

"A few times." She looks up at him. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"I don't know." He looks back at her but really all he can think is her hand, his cock, her _mouth_.

She leans forward and kisses him while she puts her fingers through the belt loops of his jeans and tugs. "I'm told I'm good at it."

From the way she says it, he feels like there's some sort of joke there that he's missing. Then she's sliding off of the bed and onto her knees, pulling his underwear down, too. He feel embarrassment creep over him; he's never been naked in front of a girl like this. He's still wearing a shirt but he feels naked, for sure.

She wraps her fingers around him, staring at him with keen interest. His dick throbs with the pulse of his blood and he can feel that tingle already building deep in his gut. He watches her, unable to take his eyes away, when she leans in and with the tip of her tongue licks down his shaft. He sucks in a breath and precome wells at the tip, trickles down. She laps at the head next like she's licking a lollipop and it feels good - not amazing, but soft and a little ticklish. It's the sight that drives him nuts, her dark head bent over him. His hand clenches in the comforter on his bed.

"Do you like that?" She stops to ask, looking up at him again.

Her hair has fallen into her face and he reaches out to brush it away. "It feels good."

She looks up at him and grins and then takes just the head in her mouth. He shuts his eyes so tightly, so quickly, that his vision swims when he opens them again. She just holds him there against his tongue for a minute before she starts to move, lips sealed around him, sucking lightly as she goes. Her nose brushes the hair around the base of his cock and she swallows, a rippling sort of motion against the tip of his cock. His thighs tense and his knuckles turn white. "Vala..."

"Yeah? Like that?" She says it around him, muffled and garbled but he understands the words just perfectly and nods frantically to let her know that he definitely likes that.

She sucks again, a little harder, and cups his balls in her hand. With the other she reaches out and unclenches his fingers from the cover and moves his hand to her shoulder, encouraging him to touch her. He goes for the hair right away, stroking it, sinking his fingers into it. She starts to move her mouth up and down on him again and he watches with blatant greedy eyes, like he's trying to just memorize the sight of her. Her breasts are pale and firm and her nipples are stiff in the cool air of his room.

He breathes harder and faster and struggles not to many any other noise. His hand drops to her shoulder then the back of her neck, cupping. He's hyper aware of not pushing too hard to far though instinct makes him want to thrust. "Vala," The name escapes him and she sucks harder, hand squeezing just a little on his sac and he feels it like a wave about to hit him. He hand drops away and he warns her, imagining she'll want to move back. "I'm gonna come..."

She doesn't back away. Her brow furrows in concentration and she keeps her mouth on him, tight suction that drives him over the edge. He breathes out of his nose with a tightly closed mouth but even that can't stop the grunt when the first shot of come leaves him. He can't stop the jerking of his hips either, cock wanting as deep inside that wet warmth as he can get while it comes. It leaves him in pulses and seems like so much, like more than he's ever come before, but maybe thats because he's watching her. She pulls back just enough so that it won't hit the back of her throat and make her gag and when she readjusts he can see it pearly and white against her tongue. She closes her lips around him again until he's finished and then she pulls back and he watches the movement of her throat as she swallows. It's so hot, hits him so hard, that another little bit actually dribbles out. She licks it up and then leans back on her heels, resting her hands on his thighs.

He still can't catch his breath.

*

He lays her out on the bed. Now that the urgency is gone on his part he wants to play. She seems so responsive to everything he does, like she's just craving the touches and kisses. She's not shy and that makes him less shy, too; he pulls his shirt over his head and they're naked, together. He's pretty sure it won't take long for him to get hard again but he wants to make her come. He's been daydreaming of it all day long, sitting in class remembered the way she felt when she orgasmed around his fingers, and he wants that again.

"I don't know what I'm doing," he says, laughing, wanting to throw a disclaimer out there.

"I'll show you." Her eyes and big and wide and gray and gorgeous. She looks at him a little bit like she thinks he's going to disappear and that would confuse him if he weren't so distracted. "Besides, you did all right last night."

"You showed me," he reminds her, grinning.

He puts his hands on her hips and kisses her stomach. It jumps under his lips when she breaths in deep. He gauges those reactions, cataloging them. When he blows breath on her belly button she giggles, ticklish. When he licks the hollow of her hip she squirms and spreads her legs a little. When he sucks, hard, she pushes into it and whimpers.

"More," she says - bossy, demanding.

"What?" He leans back, hands still on her hips. She's wearing panties and it's so hot... her just stretched out on his bed, almost naked. Just that one thing hidden, that one thing that he's so endlessly fascinated by. "Said you'd show me, right?"

"I want..." Her eyes suddenly go a little wider, as if a thought is just occurring to her. "Your mouth."

Oh, yeah. Definitely won't be much recover time here. He nods and pulls off her panties, looking at what he'd only touched the night before; the v of her legs, black curls and pale skin, lips just peeking out. She spreads her knees and lifts them and grins at him, challenge in her eyes

That catches him off guard. She's having _fun_. They both are. He grins back. "Okay."

*

She tastes good - sweeter than he'd expected. He's tasted his own come before, just out of curiosity, and it hadn't seemed horrible but it hadn't held much appeal, either. Vala's different - he licks curiously, exploring with his tongue, finding places and textures in a whole different way.

Helpfully, she drapes one leg over his shoulder. He laughs, huffing breath against her cunt, and that makes her gasp.

"Lick inside of me," she orders him. "Put your tongue in me."

He does, but he's not sure what else he's supposed to do. He tries fucking her with it but it just doesn't go that far. After a minute he pulls his face back. "Like that?"

She looks conflicted. "Lick... up, more. My..."

She doesn't have to say it, he's already lowering his head back down, tongue seeking out that place he'd found with his fingers before. It's easier to differentiate like this; his tongue is more sensitive than the pad of his finger and her clit is smoother, harder, a little nub that reacts so perfectly when he swipes the flat surface of his tongue over it.

He knows that feels good so he tries to keep doing that but his tongue also tires faster than he fingers. Minutes pass and he lifts his head, jaw hurting a little, and looks at her. "How is that?"

"It's..." She bites her bottom lip. "Nice?"

He winces. "Nice?"

"Come here." She reaches for him, pulling him up closer to her, and kisses him. That's better; that's familiar ground, by now.

"Doesn't seem fair," he says, between kisses.

"Hmm?" She's more interested in making out than talking, but acknowledges enough that he knows she's listening.

"That you were damn good, and I was..." He gives her a short kiss. " _Nice._ "

"Well, you just need practice," she says, pushing him back a little though he's still sitting up, and straddling him. He puts his arms around her, enjoying her on his lap. "Luckily I'm a nice enough person to let you."

"Oh yeah," Cam says, kissing her neck. "Very nice."

She sighs happily and tilts her head to the side. "Not as nice as you, though."

Cam's doorknob rattles and for a ridiculous moment he almost pushes Vala off of him. Luckily he doesn't have to, she scrambles away on her own, grabbing her panties and her shirt, looking terrified.

"Yeah?" Cam calls out, hoping his voice doesn't sound off. The doorknob rattles again but it's firmly locked.

"Mom said I had to come ask you if you want the last half of this brownie because it's the last one. She said I couldn't eat it til I asked. Do you?" Will asks through the door.

"All yours," Cam shouts back.

He hears receding footsteps and tries to convince his heart it can really stop pounding out of his chest now.

Vala's already halfway redressed. Cam reaches out and grabs her hand, pulling her back onto the bed. "So, uh."

"Should I leave?" She asks quietly.

"What? Because of that? No... don't." He doesn't know where she'd go, anyway. "You know... my parents might understand..."

"That I slept in your bed last night?" She looks doubtful.

"Well, not that," he quickly rectifies. "Just your situation. My mom, maybe. She might help you."

"There is no way to help." Vala's posture stiffens. "Unless your parents want to adopt me, and in which case, I'm really not prepared to deal with the pseudo incest aspect... are you?"

"Vala!" He makes a face. He also recognizes her attempts at redirection now. "I don't know how long you can hide up here, though."

"I can leave," she says, again, but she sort of looks like she wants to cry and that's the last thing Cam wants.

"Hey..." He shakes his head, pulling her in against him. He loves how she fits in his arms. "We'll figure something out."

He's not at all comfortable or confident with his ability to tell her what she should do, but he doesn't want her to leave and he wants to be the one that's there for her. He watches her struggle against words and decides that maybe distraction is the best tactic here, maybe that's what he can do for her.

"I want to be a pilot," he says, going with the first thing that pops into his mind. "I want to join the Air Force and fly."

She sniffles just a little, despite the fact that the tears never left her eyes. "Why do you need the Air Force to do that?"

"I don't know," he admits. "My dad says it'll give my career structure. And they pay for really good education. What I want to do isn't cheap."

"Do you not want to?" She asks.

"I do, yeah," he says, leaning forward until his forehead touches hers. "I've had a lot of people tell me I didn't need to go into the military just because my dad wants me to, but I listen to him talk about it and he loved it. He got to see the world. He got to be the good guy and help people."

He's sure his father did some bad things, too, but Cam's only sixteen and the realities of that haven't set in. It's easy to gloss over.

Vala smiles like she's just learned, or maybe just realizes, something. "You like doing good things."

"Well... yeah," he says.

"Is that why you like me? Am I just a charity case for you?" She says it in that voice that he still doesn't really get, where she's kind of joking and he can't read anything more than that, but her words still sit funny with him.

"No," he says, and kisses her again. "No."

"Am I your girlfriend?" She asks again, like she's challenging him now.

He grins. "I hope so. You deflowered me, after all."

She snorts in surprised amusement. "Oh, I haven't done that yet."

He draws in a breath. Just the innuendo kickstarts his libido again, but he tells his dick to have a little patience. Right now he just wants to talk, and maybe that's girly, but it's true. "So you're my girlfriend?"

She nods just a little, biting her bottom lip. "And you have to take me out on a date."

"Tomorrow," Cam says, deciding it only just then. "It's Saturday. We can spend the whole day together."

"Not sick of me yet?" She asks, curling in closer. Wrapping his arms around her feels natural now, because he knows she won't push him away.

"All day long today I just kept thinking about you. Where you were, what you were doing."

"Let's run away together, then. We spend all day, every day together."

He doesn't know what to say to that, so he doesn't say anything. He thinks about it, though; thinks about it knowing how unrealistic it would be, how he'd never go through with it, but it's still fun to imagine. "Where would you want to go?"

"Back to Australia." She sighs. "I miss it."

"I bet it misses you, too." He kisses her.

"You'd like it there, I think.," she declares. "We can stow away on a ship."

"Well, that's cheaper, for sure..." Cam says. His voice is getting sleepier, and he can tell she's fading, too. They keep talking, voice turning to low mumbles. "Y'don't get seasick, do you?"

"Dont' think so... I can teach you how to surf...." She yawns a little and that's it, she's drifted off with a smile on her face.

*

Cam wakes in the morning and he's alone.

His first thought is that Vala's left and he's confused and upset, but he sees her jeans on the floor, her bag by them, and realizes she must still be here.

Just not in his room.

That inspires panic, and he shoots to his feet, grabbing some pajama pants and stepping outside of his room. The halls are empty. It's early in the morning still, but not so early that his father or mother might not be up.

The door to the bathroom opens and Vala walks out, looking surprise to see him there. She's wearing only her tank top and panties. Cam almost falls in his hurry to get to her, grab her arm and tugs her back into his room. "What were you doing?" He whispers, heart pounding.

She yanks her hand back, looking hurt. "I had to pee. Where else did you expect me to go?"

He forces his breathing back under control and some of the panic fades. "Sorry, I just woke up and you weren't here."

She isn't entirely without understanding. "I'm sorry," she says, words that don't often come from her mouth. At least not when she actually means it. "But I was very quiet."

His eyes flicker down to her arm. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Nothing you can't kiss better." Her lips quirk flirtatiously. "If you're so inclined."

He smiles back, realizing it's okay. He steps in and kisses her on the temple, avoiding her mouth out of embarrassment over having morning breath. She doesn't seem to mind, just steps into his arms and snuggles herself against him.

And then his door opens.


	3. Teenage Dream

His mother just stands there, staring.

Cam does the same. It takes a minute for his brain to tumble into action. He feels that same wash of panic from before only it's so much worse now.

Vala recovers first, though Cam's not sure if that's a good thing or not. She steps forward, ignoring the fact that she's half naked, and thrusts her hand out. "You must be Mrs. Mitchell. How lovely to meet you!"

Wendy Mitchell takes Vala's hand, and shakes it. "And you must be Cameron's mystery girl."

"Absolutely. Vala Mal Doran, at your service." She gives Wendy her most charming smile. And then... "Mystery, you say?"

Vala's eyes flicker over to Cam and she grins flirtatiously and that's definitely, without a doubt, the wrong thing to do. It would be adorable any other moment than this. Cam begins to understand how bad it is the minute he feels his mother's eyes land on him and she says, "Vala, I think you should be going home now."

Vala's face falls. She looks at Cam again, unsure, and he knows he isn't letting her walk out of here. "Wait," he says. "Mom, can we talk?"

"Oh, I think we should. In private." She looks at Vala. "I'm sorry if Cam neglected to mention this, but we do have a no sleepovers with girlfriends policy in this house."

"Vala, stay here," Cam says, aware that his mother is looking at him with what might be bordering on fury now. "Mom, please. Just let me explain, let's go talk."

Vala says nothing as Cam leads his mother out of the room.

*

"Cameron, I think you know what I'm going to say," Wendy says, sitting across the kitchen table from him. "I'm having a hard time believing you have any sort of good reason for having a girl in your room at six o'clock in the morning half-dressed."

Cam doesn't really know if it's going to qualify as a good reason, but he opts with honesty and hopes it really is the best policy.

"She's a foster kid, and she ran away from home." Cam just blurts it out. "And she's, I mean, she's my girlfriend, but she didn't have anywhere else to go and I was afraid if I told her she couldn't stay with me that she'd just take off."

He must look about as miserable as he feels because his mother just sighs. "What's her name? Vala?"

"Yeah. Vala Mal Doran."

"And she ran away? So her guardians don't know where she is?"

"I don't think so," Cam admits "I just wanted to help her."

"Why didn't you come to me or your father?" Wendy asks, and it's a hard question for Cam, because he knows he doesn't have a good answer.

"I know she wouldn't have wanted me to," he says. "I didn't want to scare her off."

"Well, someone out there is bound to be worried out of their mind. What happened to make her want to run away?"

"I don't know."

"Sounds like there's an awful lot about this you don't know." Wendy's voice holds disapproval that Cam can feel. "You know I'll have to tell your father, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Cam says, slumping in his seat. "What's gonna happen to her?"

"I don't know. Go get dressed and... have her get dressed, too, please. We're not done talking about this. Not by a long shot. Especially how I found you two this morning."

Cam's face heats up and he mumbles another, "Yes, ma'am. Are you gonna tell Dad about that, too?"

Her look gives him all the answer he needs.

*

Vala's halfway out the window when Cam walks back in.

"What are you doing?"

She looks at him, stricken. "I was..."

"Leaving." His stomach turns unhappily and he really hadn't thought this could get any worse. "You were just going to leave?"

She pulls her foot back through the window and stands, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm making things unpleasant for you. I thought perhaps if I just left..."

"I told my mom what happened. I had to," he says, walking over to her and taking her bag off of her shoulder. She lets him, though she doesn't look too pleased.

"They'll just send me back there, then, I presume?" She grabs her bag back. "I'm not going there again."

"They won't!" Cam's just desperate to keep her there. "Just wait, just talk to my Mom, please."

"I won't go back there!" She shouts, and Cam realizes she's not just angry, she's terrified.

"Do you trust me?" He asks.

She looks taken aback by the question. "I don't trust anyone."

It sounds like one of the most honest things he's heard her say, but he still fights it. "I let you stay here knowing my parents would kill me if they found you. I lied when Daniel asked me if I knew where you were. Why would you think I'd let them send you back there?"

Vala doesn't have an answer for that.

"Stay. Trust me. Please." He's aware that he's bordering on begging, but he doesn't want her to leave.

She lets her bag drop. "But if they try to send me back..."

"Then you can leave." He exhales in relief and shuts his eyes, just for a second. They're at sort of an awkward impasse; she's on guard now, reminds him of the cat he used to have, and how it never entirely relaxed. It could be purring away in your lap but you made one wrong move and it would still take off.

He doesn't want to make a wrong move.

"Come here?" He asks, not sure if she even will, but she steps forward and lets him hug her.

"I trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone," she mumbles, her face pressed against his shoulder.

*

They dress and walk downstairs. Cam wants to hold her hand, but he's not quite brave enough. Thoughts of her pulling away, of what his parents might say, keep his hands by his side.

"Cam?" Will says, standing in the doorway of his room, rubbing his eyes. "Did mom make- who is that?"

He breaks off when he sees Vala standing there.

"Go back to sleep. It's Saturday. I'll come get you if Mom makes pancakes."

"Kay. Tell her I want blueberry ones." He turns around and goes back to his bed.

"That was my brother," Cam says to Vala, just in case she hadn't figured that one out. He can tell from the look on her face that she had.

His parents are both waiting in the living room. His father looks about as angry as Cam had expected, but Frank Mitchell has never been the kind to yell or raise his voice without giving consideration to what he's about to say. He places weight behind his words and it's something he's taught Cam - but Cam knows that just means when it does come, it'll be that much worse.

"Mom, Dad, this is Vala," Cam says, deciding to just take the initiative and break the awkward silence.

"Vala," Frank says. "My wife tells me you've been our guest for the last couple of days? It's a shame we didn't get to actually meet you first."

Cam almost hopes Vala won't talk, but of course... she does. "Yes, your hospitality, though unintentional, was quite appreciated."

His parents both seem a little flustered by her attitude. It's not the sort of response they're used to from Cam, or any of his friends. "Vala, you must be hungry," his mother says. "Why don't you come into the kitchen with me for a few minutes, and we'll find something for you to eat."

Vala looks at Cam like she doesn't trust this at all. he does reach out then and squeezes her hand very quickly, just to reassure her, before she gets up and goes with Wendy into the kitchen.

"Cameron." His father leans on his walking stick, but stays standing, driving home his dominance over Cam.

"Dad."

"She slept in your bed?"

"Yes, sir, but we didn't-"

Frank talks over him and Cam quickly shuts up. "Your mother and I didn't raise you to behave like that. Regardless of what you did or didn't do, it was disrespectful."

"I'm sorry." Cam doesn't try to make any excuses and he tries to mean the apology, but he's not sure how sincerely he comes off. He's not sorry; he doesn't regret it.

"I'll be honest, son, we don't really know how to punish this. But you hear me - we will think of a way," Frank says. Cam envisions being grounded until he's in college, and suddenly the chance of getting a car in the next year seem so, so small. Then he steps forward and sits down in his armchair, the one that Wendy keeps threatening to get rid of, the one he's always in. He props his cane against the arm of the chair and leans forward, hands clasped in front of him. "Now, what kind of trouble is this girl in?"

"I don't know, exactly," Cam says. "But she's not lying."

"You believe her," Frank says. "And you might have done a dumb thing here, but your mother and I know we didn't raise a liar and at the very least you're telling us what you think is the truth."

"What's Mom doing in there? Putting her through the Spanish inquisition?" Cam glances worriedly toward the kitchen.

"They're just having a talk," Frank says. "There's such a thing as too trusting."

"She goes to my school, dad, she's not lying about who she is."

"No, but still. You're young, son, and women have a way of convincing you of things through... various ways." Frank shakes his head a little. "You're sixteen. I doubt it'd be hard to convince you that the sky was purple if she-"

"Dad! Dad. No." Cam holds up his hands, making a face. "Please, father, no. That is enough. I get your point."

"Good. Then you understand why your mother's in there having a talk with her."

"I just care about her, dad. I want her to be safe, and... and not leave." Cam feels a pang at the very thought. "I don't want her to get sent away again, and she said she can't go back to that foster home."

Frank nods. "You just have to trust that right now, you don't know the entire story here."

"She's not lying to me!" Cam tries to insist.

"But son, you just admitted to me that she didn't even tell you what happened," Frank points out, and Cam can't even think of a good response to that, because it's true. "Look, if whatever happened is really that bad, if she'll come clean about it, we'll do whatever we can to help her. But you need to realize that your mother and I have no say in this. Someone else is that girl's legal guardian, and they need to know where she is. Hell, the cops could be looking for her. Do you know where she lives?"

He thinks of Daniel Jackson, and decides to go with the truth, though with that omission. "No, sir. I don't."

"Well, hopefully she'll tell us. Otherwise, I guess we'll just call child protective services and see. I'm sure they'll know."

Cam looks toward the kitchen. He knows it's really only been a few minutes, but it feels like they've been in there forever. Frank follows his gaze. "Trust your mother, son."

"I do," he says, but the doubt shows in his voice, along with the worry and concern and fear.

If Vala didn't want to tell him what was going on, why would she tell his mother? He knows knows her habit of making stories up; in this case, he thinks it would hurt more than it would help, and he hopes that's not what she's doing, either.

*

Another half hour passes. Half an hour of stilted conversation between Cam and Frank as they dance around topics neither of them really want to be talking about, anyway; namely, Cam having a half-naked girl in his room.

Will gets up and settles onto the couch, commandeering the remote for cartoons once he's told that he can't have breakfast yet. The silence is a little more bearable with a soundtrack of lively music and a lessened silence to fill, but he still can't take his eyes off of the door.

Finally, it opens, and Wendy walks out with her arm around Vala. Vala's eyes are rimmed in red and she looks down at the ground, not directly at Cam. Wendy gives her a side hug and says, "Go on upstairs, sweetheart. Cam, you go with her while your father and I talk."

Cam's surprised at being sent off alone with Vala but he doesn't make his mother have to tell him twice.

*

Vala sits on his bed facing away from him once they're in his room. Cam stands back, not really sure what to do, but after a few awkward seconds he says, "Are you okay?"

She takes a breath and he can practically watch the transformation, watch her pulling herself together before his eyes. She wipes the dampness from her cheeks and turns to him. Her smile is shaky, but there, and that's a whole world of relief for Cam.

"Your mother's very nice," she says, but her voice cracks halfway through and he sits down beside her, putting his arm around her.

"She is. They'll try to help you," Cam says, scared himself but wanting to reassure her.

"She made me tell her what... happened," Vala says.

She doesn't volunteer what that was, and though he wants to know Cam doesn't ask. "Yeah?"

She nods. "They're going to call a social worker. She said that I shouldn't.. that... she doesn't want me to go back there."

This time the relief floods through him unbidden and he pulls Vala to him in a tight hug. It must catch her off guard because she gasps a little and then laughs and flings her arms back around him, hugging him just as tightly. "We should have gone to them first," he says, willing to consider it now in retrospect.

Vala reaches up and runs her fingers through his hair. It's messy. He hasn't showered or brushed it since the night before. "But then we wouldn't have had such fun at our little sleepovers."

He grins. He still can't quite believe what they did. What he did... the ways he touched her, where he kissed her. "Yeah, uh, they're not gonna let you sleep in here anymore, I don't think..."

"We'll just have to get creative then." She smiles at him, eyes still red and face blotchy, but totally beautiful and flirtatious. She lets her fingers trail down the side of his face and then plays with the hair just at the base of his neck. "Think you're just to that, Mitchell?"

"Oh, yeah, I think so..." He says it with more bravado than he feels but then she's kissing him and that part is completely genuine. She kisses more desperately than she has before and he knows she's still shaken from whatever she told his mother but he thinks this way, maybe, he can help her. She seems to like this, if the way her tongue is in his mouth is any indication.

His door flies open. "Cam, Mom said to come-"

He stops and his jaw drops when he sees Cam and Vala both there, so close together.

"Uh, Mom and Dad want you to come downstairs again." He slams the door shut and Cam groans, flopping back onto his bed and cover up his face with his hands.

"I feel like I should just never leave this room again," he says.

Vala leans over, resting her head on his chest looking at him, and reaches up to move his hands off of his face. "Only if I can stay here with you."

He smiles and pushes her hair away from his face. He thinks suddenly, ridiculously, that maybe he loves her. He dismisses the thought almost as quickly, because he's not dumb; no one falls in love this fast, especially not sixteen year olds who are lucky if they know which end is up on a good day.

But he does care for her, that much he won't try to fight. He reaches down and cups her cheek, rubbing his thumb along the delicate arch of bone. "We better go down there. My parents are uh... suspicious."

"Should I tell them that you're a good boy and wouldn't let me get past second base?" Vala teases him. "Your chastity belt is firmly intact."

"Not that intact..." He grins and thinks of what she'd done, her mouth on him.

She leans up, weight supported on her hands, against the mattress on either side of his head, and leans down to kiss him. "All right. Before you get all bothered and can't walk downstairs properly."

She lets her hand trail pointedly down his chest and over his crotch. Of course, he hadn't been hard until she'd done that... he stifles a groan and takes a deep breath before following her out.

*

"She's a sweet girl, Frank, it's just not right-" Wendy's in the middle of a sentence when Cam and Vala walk downstairs.

"Mom," Cam says, standing there looking back and forth at his parents. They both look troubled but make an effort to seem more relaxed when Cam and Vala enter.

"Vala, we've called a social worker to come here and speak with you," Wendy says.

"I don't want to go back there." Vala whispers it, like she's admitting some sort of shameful secret.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I explained the situation and she said there's almost no chance they'll send you back." Wendy gives her a reassuring smile, but Vala isn't convinced.

"Almost?" She looks nervous immediately, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to turn fear into bravado and failing. Wendy reaches out and gives her a sideways hug, petting her hair.

Cam's surprised by how gentle his mother is with Vala. Somehow, he hadn't quite imagined the first time his parents caught him with a girl in his room, they'd be so kind to her.

He's also surprised when she reaches down and takes his hand, moving closer to him as she asks, "Is it my normal social worker? Is she coming right now?"

"I told her you were fine where you were at, but your foster parents were looking for you, sweetheart. Legally, they have the right to come take you back."

"Legally," Frank says, and from his tone it's evident that he doesn't really plan on letting it happen.

He must know what happened to Vala, too. Cam's starting to feel dumb for being the only one that doesn't.

"Vala, honey, you're only fifteen, right?"

"I turn sixteen next month," she says. "Why?"

"Just curious. You're such a pretty thing." Wendy smiles at Cam, and the back at Vala. "My son has good taste."

That makes Vala smile a bit, too. Her hand squeezes Cam's a little, and he squeezes back.

"I think breakfast is in order, don't you?" Frank says, clearly trying to dispel the strange tone over the room.

"Yes!" Will shouts from the next room, where he was clearly listening in.

*

After breakfast, Wendy says, "Cameron, would you like to help me with the dishes?"

Cam knows when his mother asks, that it's not really a question at all. "Sure."

He gives Vala an apologetic look, but she barely notices. She's already jumped up and offered to help, as well.

"Don't be silly, you're a guest here," Wendy looks at Will. "Will, why don't you show Vala around? Give her the grand tour."

"Mom, i think she's already seen the house," Will says, making a face.

"William." Wendy's voice stays light in tone but just that inflection makes Will sigh and get to his feet. "Come on. I'll show you the Playstation 3. It's Cam's but sometimes I get to play it. Do you like video games?"

"Oh, I love them," Vala says, following Will out. She glances at Cam over her shoulder. He gives her a smile of encouragement.

As soon as the swinging door shuts behind Vala and Will, Wendy gets the water started. They have a perfectly fine working dishwasher but any time Wendy wants to talk to Cam about something, she likes to do so while washing dishes - by hand. Cam takes up his spot beside her, ready to rinse and dry while she scrubs.

"So, Vala's the girl you've been sweet on for the past few weeks?" She asks, voice entirely too casual. Cam sees through the act.

"Yeah," he says. "We weren't really together until last week."

"Last week? That's not very long." Wendy's surprise is evident.

"Yeah, but it's..." Cam glances at her. "I like her a lot. I just want to help her."

"Cameron, did she sleep in your bed?"

"Yeah, but we didn't do anything like that." He fights past the inherent embarrassment to answer firmly and clearly. "We didn't have sex."

Wendy's relieved. "Be careful with that girl, Cam."

"Mom, what do you think she's gonna do?" Cam frowns, upset by the insinuation. "I

"Sweetheart, that's not what I meant." Wendy puts the plate in her hand down and looks at him. "We've raised you right and I think you can take care of yourself. But Vala hasn't had the same chances you have, and she's had some bad things happen to her. I just want you to be careful with her."

It's a struggle for Cam to see Vala as anything but capable and strong, but he's seen glimpses over the past few days. "I will. I promise."

*

He's just managed to escape his mother when there's a knock at the door.

It's the social worker, and Cam isn't sure if he should even be in here for this, but Vala stays and stands right beside him. Her countenance changes as soon as the woman steps into the room.

Wendy meets Cam's eyes and Cam understands that he's being allowed to stay. It's almost enough to make him proud; that his parents consider him adult enough for this.

The social worker all but ignores Vala. She speaks to Wendy and Frank, reassures them that contacting officials was the best possible thing to do, and then says that Vala's foster parents are on their way over.

Vala closes herself off even more. She's sullen, not responding to any remarks directed at her. Cam feels more than a little helpless, especially when her foster mother shows up.

The woman doesn't even bother introducing herself, just fixes a tired stare on Vala. It's not so much angry or even accusatory as it is annoyed, like she can't believe she's had to get up on a Saturday morning and come here. "I hope you know how much trouble you've put us through."

Vala doesn't respond, doesn't even look at her.

"Mrs. Hammond-" The social worker starts.

"Whatever she's said, it's probably a lie, anyway. We tried with her, we really did, but you can't trust a thing she said. I'm sure this is just the latest story she's making up to get some attention."

"It was the truth!" Vala snaps, not letting her finish her sentence. "Why does it matter, anyway? I'm almost sixteen, I'm old enough to take care of myself."

"No, you're not." The social worker isn't unkind when she says it, but she is firm. "But if there are allegations of sexual abuse, we will take it seriously. Vala, you don't have to return there."

Vala doesn't cry but it's clear she wants to. Cam hears the words - sexual abuse - and goes cold. He'd suspected as much - from his mother's questionings, from Vala's own behavior - but hearing it said aloud...

He puts his arm around her, comforting himself as much as her. She turns into him, pressing her face to his shoulder to the briefest of moments before she straightens back up. "Where am I being sent, then?"

"I'm not sure yet," the social worker admits. "This is very sudden, and you're well aware by now of how slowly the system can work."

"Can she stay here?" Wendy asks. "We would be more than happy to give her a place to stay."

"We'll need to run a background check, but-"

"Please?" Vala asks.

"Legally, we're walking a fine line," she says. "The Hammonds are your legal guardians."

"But," Frank prompts her, the first time he's spoken up this entire ordeal.

"But since her legal guardians know where she is and she's no longer a missing persons, she can remain here unless they object, and I can put a rush on the paperwork." The social worker looks at Vala before anyone else. "Is that what you'd prefer?"

"Yes," Vala answers, immediately.

"Mrs. Hammond?"

"All right." The woman sounds sad, perhaps a bit wistful, but doesn't object.

"Now, Mrs. Hammond, there are a few issues we'll need to discuss privately."

"We can do that at my home, then," Mrs. Hammond says, leaving no room for argument. "I left George to cook breakfast and the man can't function in a kitchen."

She glances at Vala just once before they both leave.

*

It doesn't take long for Wendy to go to into planning mode.

Vala will, of course, not continue sleeping in Cam's room. Of course, she doesn't say it like that - she just makes a big fuss over needing to clear out the guest room, make space for Vala's things.

Vala doesn't say much and Cam figures if he were in her place, he'd be feeling pretty overwhelmed. He tells his mother he wants to take her out for a little while, and Wendy agrees.

*

Cam feels better just being out of the house, and he thinks Vala does, too.

Until the awkward silence reigns, at least. They're walking, because he doesn't have a car and because they're close enough to town to not really need one all the time.

He has a million questions he wants to ask her but he thinks that if he were her the last thing he'd be wanting to do right now is talk, so he doesn't ask them. Instead he reaches for her hand and smiles with a brightness he doesn't really feel and asks a different question. "So what movie do you want to see?"

The smile she gives him lets him know that was the right question.

*

Inside the theater, it's dark and low music plays. She's got a bucket of popcorn on her lap, a box of candy stuffed into one of the drink holders, and a large cherry icee between them.

She'd picked a horror movie, and somehow that doesn't surprise Cam. Vala's an adrenaline junkie.

So is Cam, a little bit. Maybe that's why he liked Vala to begin with. She's an adrenaline rush unlike anything he's ever felt before.

Halfway through the movie she moves the drink to the other side of her, candy box emptied and discarded onto the floor, and lifts the arm rest between them. Cam doesn't even have to work for it; she just snuggles against him and starts to kiss his neck.

He wants to kiss her back, he really does, but two words flutter around in his mind unpleasantly: sexual abuse.

He reaches down and grabs her hands, both in his, and squeezes slightly. "Good part," he whispers, nodding to the screen.

Vala pouts. "Let's have fun."

He glances down at her. "Are you..."

"Cameron," she says, cutting him off. "I've had enough serious talking about serious things today. Please can we just make out?"

She juts out her lower lip and looks at him with big eyes and he grins. She knows she's won and when she leans in and presses her mouth to his, this time he kisses back.

*

The movie has maybe half an hour left and Cam doesn't even know if he'll make it that long. Her fingers are groping him through his jeans and he's rock hard, his tongue in her mouth, fingers buried in her hair. She's whining and squirming and he knows she wants something he's just not sure what.

At least not until she tugs down the zipper on his pants and it sounds so loud in the mostly empty theater. He freezes and his eyes dart around wildly but they're toward the back, no one else at any sort of angle to see what they're doing unless they got up and came closer, so he relaxes - or at least most of him does. Part of him is very, very not relaxed and that's the part Vala has her fingers around.

"We're gonna get kicked out of here!" Cam hisses - or means to but coherency suddenly becomes problematic when she rubs her thumb around the tip of his dick.

"So then we'll go somewhere else and have more fun." She has her whole body turned toward his now and she kisses his neck, rubbing her tongue along the tendon, just behind his ear, all places that make him tingle with anticipation. "Are you really going to make me stop?"

"No," he says, leaning back in the seat and quieting his protests. She jerks him off in the quiet of a movie theater with the wash of movie sounds, explosions and car horns and melodramatic speeches. None of it even remotely registers to Cam; every cell in his body is focused solely on her hand moving up and down his dick. She brings her palm to her mouth and licks it and then there's less friction, her fingers clever and squeezing just tightly enough. Cam's done this to himself thousands of times; how is it possible that it's so much better when she does it?

His fingers twitch with nervous energy and he grabs her wrist when he gets close. She's watching now, eyes fixed down on his lap, but she looks up at the touch. "What?"

"I'm gonna..." He screws up his courage and says it. "I'm gonna come."

She grins and kisses him on the cheek and says, "Okay," and then leans over his lap and seals her mouth around the head. Cam's other hand flies to his armrest and he has a death grip on it as her hand keeps jerking him off and now there's suction and her tongue dipping into the hole at the tip like she's too impatient to just wait, she wants to find the come herself.

All of her efforts are rewarded when he loses it. He bites down hard on his bottom lip to keep quiet as his balls tighten and spasm and he feels it build from within, a delicious surge and then he's filling her mouth. Two, three, four more and then he slumps back, head thunking against the cushioned chair. Vala's hand slows it's movement and she swallows then licks him clean of what's left and tucks him back into his pants.

*

Cam doesn't say much until they leave the theater.

Vala fills the silence admirably to begin with, but loses steam when she realizes that he's not really responding. She leans in close to him and wraps her hands around his arm. "I'm hungry."

"Let's go get food, then." He can't deny that he's hungry too - his body is still thrumming with pleasure but only on a physical level. Mentally, he can't stop thinking about what his mother said, about those words - sexual abuse, and about what he'd just let Vala do.

They order fast food and he guides them down to the part, sitting underneath a tree. They use the bags as plates and don't talk much, concentrating on their food. Or at least pretending that they are while an awkwardness settles around them.

Cam's halfway done eating when he suddenly just looks at her. "You know you don't have to do any of that stuff with me, right? I mean like... what you did earlier..."

"Cameron," she teases him. "If you're not old enough to say it, I'm not sure you're old enough to be doing it."

He rolls his eyes. "You jerked me off. But you don't have to - it's not like I'm not gonna like you if you don't."

"I know." She leans over and kisses his cheek. "That's why I want to."

"But you had... I mean... what happened?" He finally just asks.

She looks down, suddenly not quite so open and cheery. "Bit heavy for a first date, isn't it?"

"Well, so is jerking me off in a movie theater," he points out.

She doesn't want to smile, but she sort of does anyway. "It's happened a few times. Older boys, in foster homes... see a young girl and they... they can make life difficult if you don't do what they want."

As soon as she starts to speak Cam begins to doubt that he really wants to hear this, but he doesn't stop her. "Were you raped?"

She shakes her head. "I discovered fairly quickly that if I just gave them a little bit of what they wanted, they'd forget they wanted the rest. So I let them touch me, and I touched them."

He notices that her hand is shaking a little now. "What happened that made you run away?"

"One of my lovely foster siblings here... wanted... more." She jumps a little when Cam puts his hand on hers. She looks down at it like she's not sure if she even wants him touching her or not but when he starts to pull it back her fingers grasp his. "He wanted to fuck me, and I told him no. I kicked him, and I ran to my room and locked the door. Then I packed my backpack and left."

"If you tell them that, they won't make you go back there."

She shrugs. "The next place will probably be worse."

*

When they get back to Cam's house, his mother steals Cam away.

He hovers outside of the closed door, wanting to know what's going on but unable to work up the nerve to knock. His father saves him from the agony of waiting and subjects him to a different kind of agony.

"Now, son," he says. "Your mom and I both want to help Vala it. It's a damn shame a sweet girl like that has had to go through what she's gone through. We're willing to open our home up to her, but you're gonna have to understand if we keep a closer eye on you from now on."

Cam realizes suddenly of the direction this is headed in. He suddenly wishes for nothing more than his brother making some sort of commotion or the phone ringing or anything that would provide a distraction.

His prayers go unanswered and his father continues. "I understand that you're sixteen, and she's your girlfriend, and believe me, son, I remember what being sixteen was like. But if she's living here under our roof then we need to place a lot of trust in you to do the right thing. You've already let us down by hiding her up there in your room, in your bed."

"Dad, we didn't-"

Frank shakes his head again. "I meant what I said earlier, what you did or didn't do doesn't matter. I just hope you were safe-"

"Dad!"

"- and I hope you know, we won't stand for that to continue. You aren't to be in Vala's room with the door closed, and she's not to be in yours. If you want to take her out on dates, that's just fine, but you still have a curfew and if she's living here, she will, too. Your mom is talking to her about all that right now. We had another talk with her foster mom, and they're not bad people, but she says Vala's got a little bit of a rebellious streak in her. We will do everything we can for her but we won't risk the safety and future of our son for her. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes, sir," Cam says, wanting to argue that Vala wouldn't betray them like that, like he thinks his dad is implying, but the problem is he does know Vala by now and he doesn't know how much restraint she'll really have.

*

There's a knock on the door, a little too late to save Cam most of the misery of the conversation, but welcome nonetheless.

Daniel Jackson is standing there. "Uh, Mitchell."

"Cam," Cam says, holding the door open. Daniel has a couple of bags in his arms, and a suitcase. "What's that?"

"Vala's stuff. I brought it over. Um, I know how she can't do without her blow dryer." He holds up one plastic bag that looks like it has all sorts of vanity items shoved into it.

"Come on in. I'll go get her," Cam says. He heads down the hallway and knocks. "Mom? Someone brought over Vala's stuff."

The door opens and Vala looks shellshocked when she comes out of what is now her room with Cam's mom.

Daniel just looks relieved when he sees Vala standing there. There's a round of introductions and then Wendy gives them some privacy.

"You're okay?" Daniel asks Vala, glancing at Cam.

"I'm going to stay here," she says, smiling. She sounds... proud. Cam likes that. "They've invited me."

"He's mad, so you might want to... watch out."

"Why, Daniel, if you don't stop that I'll begin to think you care," Vala teases. "Besides, I've got Cameron to protect me now."

She shoots Cameron a smile that would make him trip over his feet if he were moving.

Daniel rolls his eyes. "I've gotta get back. I'll see you around."

He hesitates and then reaches out and hugs Vala quickly before leaving.

*

Cam helps her unpack - door left wide open in an unspoken agreement to follow Cam's parents rules.

Vala seems quiet at first, and Cam glances at the doorway to make sure no one is close enough to listen in before he grabs her arm. "Hey, are you happy with this?"

She looks surprised. "Yes."

He leans forward and kisses her. "Then smile."

She grins, and a moment later that breaks into a wide smile. She throws her arms around him and hugs him so tightly.

"That's what I wanted," he says, pushing her hair back from her face. She looks down, almost shy now, still beaming. "You get to stay here, with me, and no one's gonna hurt you."

He's surprised when she starts to cry but she's still smiling so he just wipes the tears away for her and pulls her back to him.

*

That night they sit on the couch, a couple feet of space between them as the whole family watches a movie. Will and Vala talk mostly; Will's just young enough to not care if asking questions is rude, and Vala seems to appreciate it. She answers honestly, not patronizing or placating him.

Until he says, "So what was your mom like?"

And then Vala goes quiet and Wendy tells Will that it's time for him to go to bed, and not long after that Frank goes to bed himself.

Wendy stays in the kitchen under the guise of cleaning but Cam's pretty sure she just doesn't want to leave them alone. It's a quarter to ten when she brings out a plate of brownies and two glasses of milk. "Just a snack. I'm going to go join your father in bed, but you two..."

"We'll leave light on," Cam says.

It works, and Wendy goes upstairs, to bed. She's barely out of the room before Vala is scooting over, snuggling up to Cam. "You're such a good son."

"I try," Cam says, pulling her close. She tilts her head up to his and kisses his mouth softly. "So how was tonight? Too miserable?"

"No, it was lovely," Vala says, and to Cam's surprise she sounds like she means it.

"Good," he says, happy.

"Not to mention, oh my lord, the food." Vala leans over and grabs a brownie, eating half in one bite. "I'd live here just for this alone."

Cam laughs and steals a bite. His mother's baking skills are amazing - he won't even try to deny that.

"So does little Cameron have a bedtime?" Vala coos.

"No," he says, rolling his eyes. "I have a curfew, if I'm out, but I don't have a bed time."

"Your mother cautioned me to be home by nine pm, and sleep by midnight," Vala says. "So what time do you think your parents will sneak back down to check on us?"

"Uh... any minute now," he admits.

"They're worried about me corrupting their golden boy. Your mother told me about how you want to go to college, and join the military."

Cam shrugs, not denying it. "Yeah. I want to fly planes, and the military will teach me. What about you? What do you want to do with your life?"

Judging by how she reacts, Cam's not sure anyone has ever asked her that before.

"I want to be a survivor," she says.

"You already are," Cam says.

He squeezes Vala even more tightly and she wiggles against him, crawling onto his lap. He's pretty sure this is veering into what his parents wouldn't approve of, but he doesn't care.

He grabs a blanket and drapes it over them. On tv there's some sort of late night talk show but neither of them pay any attention to it. Vala starts to kiss him again, soft and sweet, but she's on his lap and it doesn't take long for certain parts of him to decide they want less soft, less sweet. Vala likes it - he can tell - because she wiggles her butt against him more, on purpose, trying to provoke a reaction.

Cam isn't quite as hesitant this time around, though. He can feel the heat of her skin through her pajamas when he cups her ass.

Well, his parents didn't give them any rules about her being on his lap...

*

They both hear his mother's footsteps and break apart in plenty of time. Cam's hair is mussed and he's sure they're both blushing. "Just getting a drink of water for your father," Wendy says, nonchalantly. But on her way back through she adds, "I think you two ought to be getting to bed."

"Yes, ma'am," Cam says.

The bedroom Vala's staying in is downstairs, and Cam's is upstairs. He has a feeling his parents will be listening for the sound of him, but he still lingers by her bedroom door.

"You can't just-"

"Vala," Cam smiles at her. "Come on, it's your first night here. We don't wanna mess this up."

Vala pouts and Cam has to kiss her then, she just looks so cute. She likes that, wrapping her arms around him and tugging him in closer. "You owe me for the movies earlier."

"Uh..." Cam lets her lead him into the room. He does know exactly how stupid this is, but when she guides his hand down the front of her pajama pants there's just not much he can do.

She's slick and wet under his fingertips. He watches her face since there's more light this time, the light from the hallway. The door is still open but Cam thinks it's best that way; they'll hear his mother long before she gets to the bedroom if she comes to check. And he can see the look on Vala's face when he slides a finger inside of her.

He rubs at her clit in tight little circles and steps in closer. She's still standing, mostly, leaning against the dresser by her bed. She wraps her arms more loosely around him now and rests her head on his shoulder like it's a friendly hug but his fingers still work inside and against her.

"You have to be-" He means to warn her but she interrupts.

"Fast, yes, oh, I can - just like that," she loses track mid-sentence, and he can feel her body doing different things, clenching and grasping like she's trying to draw him in even more, more than his finger will go. "It feels so good when you touch me."

"You feel good to touch," Cam says, voice rough and low.

"Please, please," she kisses him quick and desperate and he has to hurry, can't take that chance because he knows it would get her kicked out, he rubs faster. She's already so close and she tries to resist and draw it out, he can tell by the clench of her jaw and the way she's tight like a vice when he pushes a finger back in, but the touch is too much and she comes.

She lets out a surprised cry against his neck, muffled, and then her hand is in his pajama pants to grasp him while the other yanks them down to his thighs. She jerks him hard and fast and he's not expecting it at all. He comes on the third stroke, shooting hard, mostly on his own shirt but some on her hand.

She smirks and licks her fingers. "Goodnight, Cameron."

*

Church with Vala is... interesting. She sits behind him in a skirt that comes past her knees and draws on the back of her program. When Cam won't look at it, too fearful of attracting the attention of his mother beside him, she ends up spending the hour long sermon giggling with Will.

*

On Monday, they wake at a quarter to six in the morning.

Cam goes through the strange experience of waking, showering, dressing, all knowing Vala's doing the same thing just one floor underneath him. She's already at the table when he shows up for breakfast, talking with his mother about her favorite courses in school.

Cam's surprised to hear the answers: she likes foreign languages, history and mythology. She doesn't like reading, or algebraic math, or anything that involves patience and sitting still.

(That doesn't surprise him much.)

"Cameron usually walks his brother to the bus stop," Wendy tells Vala.

"Sounds lovely," Vala says, smiling at Cam.

He doesn't know if they're thinking the same thing, but he's thinking: a few minutes alone with her, something they hadn't gotten much of the day before, between church and family time.

*

They hold hands on the walk, after Will's on his bus.

"You sure you aren't ashamed of me?" She teases, only he's not sure she's really teasing.

"Nope," Cam says, smiling at her. "You kidding? I'd take out a page ad in the school newspaper if I could."

Maybe he's laying it on a little thick, but not really. He gets why she's insecure and he doesn't want her to be.

*

They don't have any classes together, so they don't actually see each other much during the day; a quick stolen kiss between classes, but then he's got football practice and she goes straight home.

Cam gets home to a mostly empty house, and a note on the fridge that says Wendy's taken Vala shopping and Will's at a friend's house. He's in the middle of homework when he hears the car pull up.

Vala walks in with three shopping bags and a huge from on his face. She bounces over to him, drops the bags onto the couch and sits on his lap, kissing him. "I love your mother."

Cam laughs, kissing back. "I love her, too."

Wendy walks in and she looks just as happy as Vala. Cam realizes that his mother might enjoy having someone to do girly things with, and he thinks it might be a good thing.

"Mrs. Mitchell, can I try on my new clothes for Cameron?" Vala gives his mother a charming smile.

"Which ones?" Wendy asks, like she's onto Vala.

Vala just laughs. "Only the ones that actually cover things up, I promise."

"Well, I suppose, then." Wendy allows it. Vala's already pulling Cam down the hallway to her room, bags in tow, when Wendy adds, "But you change in the bathroom, and the bedroom door stays open!"

*

Vala's been with them for two weeks. She's adapted to their schedule without complaint - does her homework, dresses and is ready on time, comes straight home after school. She still doesn't have many friends but they see each other more during the day. He walks her to class and spends their short breaks with her and sometimes she watches from the stands while he has football practice, waiting to walk home with him.

He gets to know her like he hadn't before - the things that annoy him, things he loves. The more time he spends with her, the less she becomes a mystery and the move she just becomes Vala.

She lounges on his bed doing her homework. When she looks up, she catches him staring. She grins and drops her pencil on her notebook. Their eyes both go toward the open door and then she gets up, walking over to where he's at his desk and sits on his lap. "Yes?"

"Uh, huh?" He asks.

"You were staring. It was distracting."

"Sorry," he says, grinning. He likes her in his lap. He likes her everywhere, all the time. "Just thinking."

"About?"

"You. I'm glad you're here." He blurts it out, something he's not sure he's said since that first day, and it makes her blink rapidly to chase away the tears welling in her eyes.

She brushes her lips over his in a soft kiss. "Me, too."


End file.
